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Title: Columbus Slaughters Braves by Mark Friedman ISBN: 0-618-21904-8 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 04 April, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (14 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Good first novel
Comment: I thought this was a great idea for a novel, to really explore the emotions of brothers who had a tough time communicating and understanding each other. But as I read this novel, all I got from Joe Columbus was jelosy and pettyness. He had no introspection as to why he and his brother didn't connect, which made it hard to know the characters or their real feelings. CJ Columbus was interesting and possessed not only a baseball tallent, but an almost mystical understanding of the universe, which wasnt really explored enough. I did enjoy reading this book, that could have been a great book.
Rating: 5
Summary: sure Hall of Fame for this shattering, profound debut novel
Comment: Many years from now, as old-timers rehash the great baseball novels of the early twenty-first century, they will recall Mark Friedman's rookie work, "Columbus Slaughters Braves," as one that marked the author for greatness. The novel shines on two levels: as a baseball story, it rings with authenticity, and, as a novel about sibling rivalry, it sheds light on the darker side of our personality. "Columbus" is a disturbing, shattering and important book and will rank with "Bang the Drum Slowly" and "The Brothers K" in its thematic purity and intense characterizations.
The novel's conflict is deceptively simple. CJ Columbus, the younger brother of Joe, is a remarkable athlete and has been since his childhood. With the focus of a natural, CJ becomes an adored superstar with the Chicago Cubs, and in so doing, elevates the perennial doormats into a championship-contending ballclub. However, the focus of the novel is not on the superstar, but on the brooding and frustrated older brother. Joe, suffused with guilt over his envy and enmity towards CJ, suffers a life in eclipse. His relationship with his mother teeters towards an irreparable rift; his marriage with a college sweetheart veers into sterility, and his own self-image is a wreck.
Friedman's talent mainfests itself throuhgout the novel as the author painfully creates the terror and shame of living a life in the reflected glow of the family star. His parents acquiesce in removing Joe from direct childhood competition and comparisons with CJ; "we would grow up and have to find other ways to be cruel to each other." CJ's uncanny understanding of the game results in Joe's removal from baseball and delegation to tennis, where his desultory attempts at excellence only intensify his sense of worthlessness. Rather than struggle for his own identity and value, Joe embraces lower expectations" and comes to resent the fact that nobody "ever corralled my parents on my behalf." Joe's merciless taunting of the ten-year old CJ (mired in his first slump) results in the younger brother brutally breaking the older's leg in a vicious act of retaliation. Friedman is brilliant in underscoring the ironic capitulation of the youthful Joe to an aged sense of powerlessness, futility and pain.
The adult Joe settles into his life as a teacher with little enthusiasm. His mother's patent sense of rejection and her blatant expressions of disappointment drive Joe into an even deeper lassitude. Joe compels himself to be even more different than CJ; "I wasn't afraid of competing with the world; I didn't want to compete with him." While watching his brother play professionally for the first time, Joe feels "uneasy and disconnected; I couldn't get close and had no desire to do so. When CJ earns Rookie of the Year honors, Joe doesn't even bother to offer congratulations.
Joe is a despondent, lonely man. Yearning to be a loved teacher and desperate to be loved by his career-oriented and increasingly distant wife, Joe continues to be haunted by CJ. In a particularly chilling scene, a school conference with the father of a disinterested student ends with the father insisting that Joe give him an autograph. He even measures his unsuccessful attempts to seduce his wife as a batting average. The ubiquitous CJ, now a national icon, haunts his brother. Even more frustrating to the older brother is that CJ has usurped his parents' love; Joe feels that his mother treats him more like a son-in-law than a natural son.
The author does not bend the narrative to a neat conclusion. Joe insists on nursing anger and bitterness. Joe is nable to accept his brother's fame; "most people enjoyed it, going along for the ride...I found that impossible." The negative feelings transform into hatred. Friedman has Joe offer a compelling rumination about the nature of hate; consuming, inwardly-directed, hatred becomes a "full-time job that takes no time at all," a destructive form of love that becomes the "only thing that keeps you alive." Joe refuses brotherly love and solidarity even when his brother is beaned and subsequently suffers a prolonged drought at the plate. CJ's decline was like "sourballs tucked in the corner of my mouth, certainly bitter but never losing their undeniably sweet bolt of flavor."
Eventually, Joe's spiral of self-destruction results in a liberating epiphany. A near ethereal calm follows Joe's ability to accept his brother as "an amazing ballplayer." Acknowledging that the two will never be close or loving siblings, Joe's growth to "neutrality" signals his re-emergence as a man. He proclaims that "his days of hating are over." The final third of the novel explores, with extraordinary grace and power, the results of Joe's emotional and social development.
Readers will relish Mark Friedman's terrific writing. Whether it be is pointed observations on classroom teaching or his truthful insights about big-league baseball, the author crafts "Columbus Slaughters Braves" with precision, strength and courage. This bold and anguished novel, which so honorably deals with personal pain and unresolved guilt, which so carefully examines the darker sides of our personality, which so eagerly embraces internal conflict and family reformation, deserves to be read and discussed by the widest audience.
Rating: 3
Summary: A well-written, albeit predictable, debut
Comment: In his debut novel, "Columbus Slaughters Braves," Mark Friedman presents a fairly straightforward tale of sibling jealousy. The protagonist, Joe Columbus, is the older brother of Chicago Cubs third baseman CJ Columbus, who ascends to the pantheon of superstardom (complete with lucrative Nike endorsement) while Joe teaches high school science. Joe's jealousy of his golden-boy brother spills over into his marriage, his non-existent relationship with his parents, who fawn over CJ, and even his job (during a parent-teacher conference, the parent asks about CJ). Friedman writes well, almost lyrically; Joe's bitterness is palpable throughout the book. However, the story takes a maudlin "Brian's Song" turn, and while it doesn't end in tearful avowals of love, it's predictable enough to make your eyes roll. Friedman shows immense amounts of promise, but outside of Joe the characters are very stereotypical and one-dimensional. I'm not surprised the book has already been purchased for the movies; it's the type of story Hollywood loves. Still, "Columbus Slaughters Braves" is a nice evening's read, and Mark Friedman is a talent to watch.
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